Farrah Tomazin

You have to hand it to Daniel Andrews: he certainly knows how to play to his strengths.

Having started the year facing a dip in the polls, internal Labor tensions, and ongoing woes over public transport, the Victorian premier cleverly switched gears, carving out a niche on the national stage as Australia's most socially progressive political leader.

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When Malcolm Turnbull caved in to the conservative right over the Safe Schools program, it was Andrews who confirmed he would pick up the tab and expand the program to every public secondary school in the state.

When 267 asylum seekers faced being sent back to detention in the remote island of Nauru, it was Andrews who turned to social media brandishing a letter to the Prime Minister offering to take them all in.

And when the Republic debate re-surfaced on Australia Day, it was Andrews who led calls for the Queen to be replaced by our own head of state, declaring it was "time to stand on our own two feet."

Turnbull – the Liberal moderate, the republican, the man of compassion – was noticeably quiet on every front.

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Just as former Labor premier Steve Bracks was a critical player on national economic reform and cooperative federalism 10 years ago, Andrews is also starting to make his own mark beyond state boundaries when it comes to social policy – largely because Turnbull vacated the space.

It's an interesting shift that says a lot about the politics of expectation. Abbott was seen as ideologically out of touch in Victoria, defined by the things he was against, and without a clear agenda or a positive story to tell.

Turnbull is cut from a different cloth, but has sought appease his party by placing his progressive views on the backburner, disappointing the bleeding hearts who expected more. Not surprisingly, Andrews has taken great delight in calling him out.

"You know, if you are for things, be for them – be consistent and do some things… That is what national leadership is about," Andrews said during his first appearance on Q&A last Monday. "I like a lot of the things he says, but he hasn't been doing very much."

It was a pointed comment by a premier who knows only too well that the art of compromise is always difficult for centrist leaders who must balance the expectations of their party with that of the public.

After all, Andrews spent two years in opposition battling Ted Baillieu, a "small L" Liberal whose term was often undermined by the right-wing forces within his ranks.

Now he's going head-to-head with Matthew Guy, a 42-year-old Liberal who has repeatedly said his party should modernise and be more inclusive if it wants to capture the political middle ground.

Labor strategists want you to see Turnbull and Guy as the kind of politicians for whom there is a wide chasm between rhetoric and reality. In contrast, they want you to view the premier as a conviction MP, hoping you'll gloss over the fact that some of his comments stray into areas for which the states have little control: asylum seeker policy is a case in point.

The danger though, is that Labor ends up underestimating Turnbull, who might not have the authority to change his party's position on a marriage plebiscite or climate change, but has proven this week that when comes to other matters, such as workplace reform, he certainly has the decisiveness to recall the parliament, bring forward the budget, and pull a double dissolution trigger if the government doesn't get its way. What else might the Prime Minister have in store?

Nonetheless, Andrews' leadership on nationally contentious social issues is politically smart on several fronts.

First, it helps his government to claw back some ground from the Greens, which made history at the last state election by winning its first two lower house seats (Melbourne and Prahran) and has its sights on another two it wants to snatch from Labor at the next poll (Brunswick and Richmond).

Second, it creates a broader narrative to push at a time when Andrews faces other problems closer to home: rising crime rates; ongoing debacles on the transport network; claims that the ALP rorted taxpayer-funded entitlements.

And third, through Facebook and Twitter, Andrews has a platform to convey unfiltered messages to a massive audience - many who might otherwise be disengaged from politics - while Labor strategists behind the scenes use the public's responses to micro-target voters, recruit volunteers and craft campaign messages. Is Big Brother watching? You bet.

Mind you, it would be wrong to assume (as some Liberals do) that Andrews' stance on social policy is all about politics and posturing. Sure, there's a bit of that in a few of his social media musings, but it's fair to say that since winning office, his government has implemented so many progressive reforms it's hard to keep up.

Public sector boards are now required to be 50 per cent female. Medical cannabis has been legalised to treat people with painful and chronic conditions. Same-sex couples finally have the right to adopt children. Donor-conceived people get unprecedented access to information about their biological parents. Safe access zones will be set up around abortion clinics from May 2. Parliament now flies the Aboriginal flag. And all of this is merely scratching the surface of the changes so far.

Whether or not you agree with his policies is one thing, and whether or not they will make any difference shifting votes from outside the Left is another. But for a Catholic premier who once declared he's "always seen Victoria's rightful place as the progressive capital of our nation" there's little denying Andrews' actions in this space are just as loud as his words.